Yeah, somebody here mentioned bacon and butter fried rice and it amazed me that I never thought of making that myself, being a fat kid at heart. It does make sense that it'd be viewed as the poor man's breakfast. I sure do love it.

Yip, it's also pretty high in manganese, but irrespective its nutritional profile doesn't rival starch sources like potatoes or bananas... so why would I crave it?

Because we are a species with a big brain and we like variety? Because God's/Mother Nature's/Great Gazoo's wonderful bounty is to be enjoyed? Beats me. Truth be told, I think the brain/body is more motivated by the pursuit of pleasure than by anything as natural as knowing what it needs. If it weren't, we'd have all been eating exactly the correct number of calories in the exact correct macros and micros since day one. Just a theory.

"Right is right, even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it." - St. Augustine

Yeah, somebody here mentioned bacon and butter fried rice and it amazed me that I never thought of making that myself, being a fat kid at heart. It does make sense that it'd be viewed as the poor man's breakfast. I sure do love it.

this morning I had (for the first time) cut up sausage with left over white rice cooked in butter for a bit, then poured a scrambled egg over it, let it set up, flipped it, ate it. It was great.

I mainly use white rice in a recipe. It's something called "sarma". Basically, ground beef, pork, finely chopped sauteed vegetables and rice. All wrapped in fermented cabbage leaves and stuffed in dry red peppers. Then simmered in pot with water.

But it's just pure starch, right? Pretty nutritionally void? So why does it make me feel better than potatoes, or even bananas?

Likely for that reason. It is a very fast source of energy that requires little digestion. White potatoes are surprisingly nutrient-dense - more than most sweet potatoes - and contain a good bit of soluble fiber. I could see it making you feel heavier. White rice is closer to pure energy, and since it's almost entirely starch it is going to be extremely fast energy, unlike sugar.

Don't put your trust in anyone on this forum, including me. You are the key to your own success.

That's how I like it once in awhile, like a dessert.... berries, cinnamon, honey (cream and/or butter is yummy but I don't use those much anymore).... I just bought some almond milk the other day and used that with it. Now THAT was yummy.

Not a thing in white rice, its basically little bits of pure glucose. That right there is probably why you feel good. It digests within minutes where as other starches besides maybe white brrad will take hours to fully digest.

White isn't exactly nutrient dense but I wouldn't call it pure glucose with "not a thing" in it.

There are some vitamins in there somewhere. But really, white rice isn't a meal. It's supposed to be eaten in ice cream scoop sized portions to add palatability. In some ways it's helpful - like cooking spinach along with white rice. It's good for soaking up the nutrients that leak out that would otherwise be left in the water. Boil your white rice in leftover spinach water and there's now a lot more to it.

Don't put your trust in anyone on this forum, including me. You are the key to your own success.